"By a slight change in the Hebrew, its
(joy) is substituted by some for not, because "not increased the joy"
seems opposite to what immediately follows, "the joy," &c. HENGSTENBERG,
retains not thus: "Whose joy thou hadst not increased," (that is, hadst
diminished). Others, "Hast thou not increased the joy?" The very
difficulty of the reading, not, makes it less likely to be an
interpolation."

"Who will have the most joy? Those who have been the
most concerned about it. You who do not pray in private, nor come out to prayer-meetings,
will not have the joy when the blessing comes, and the church is increased. You had no
share in the sowing, therefore you will have little share in the
reaping."

"Isaiah is painting a picture of a new era and using the child as the harbinger of that era. King Ahaz, though, did not listen to Isaiah narrative of peace and prosperity that came by trusting in God."

"Everything is arranged for an ignominious defeat, but the wonder of the story is, of course, that it is Midian who is defeated with the ridiculous household implements, wielded by the 300-person rag-tag army of Gideon."

"The passage is about
more than longing and dreaming for better days ahead, although that is
certainly a part of the passage. It is really about living under threat
in a world that is beyond our control, a world that lies in the hands of
leaders who make stupid and selfish and even cowardly decisions, who
refuse to trust God."

â€œAll of You Who Walked in Darkness,â€� an original hymn by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette based on the traditional Christmas Eve reading from Isaiah, celebrating that â€œthe people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.â€� This hymn was commissioned by The Presbyterian Outlook magazine for new Advent hymns to Christmas carol tunes. Tune: MENDELSSOHN (â€œHark! The Herald Angels Singâ€�)